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Arthur's Pass (3,020 ft) lies on the main divide on the
watershed between the Waimakariri and Taramakau Rivers, and
is the lowest pass, and the only crossing for motor traffic,
between the Lewis and Haast Passes. A railway tunnel over 5
miles long was completed beneath the pass in 1923, and this
route still constitutes the only rail link across the South
Island, carrying a large proportion of the coal and timber
produced on the West Coast. Mt. Rolleston (7,453 ft), a fine
peak 2 miles west of the pass, dominates the scenery in the
area, and especially so from Temple Basin, a popular ski-ing
field overlooking the pass. The local heavy rainfall,
exceeding 200 in. a year, maintains a thick cover of beech
forest on all the lower slopes.

Arthur's Pass is named after Arthur Dudley Dobson, who
discovered it in March 1864, acting, it is said, on
information given him by Tarapuhi, a West Coast chief. In
1929 the Arthur's Pass Park Board was constituted. The park
has an area of some 242,000 acres comprising magnificent bush
and mountainous country. It is a popular holiday resort and a
favourite region for mountaineering and tramping clubs.

by Guyon Warren, M.SC., New Zealand
Geological Survey, Christchurch.

Co-creator

Guyon Warren, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Christchurch.

How to cite this page: 'ARTHUR'S PASS', from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966.Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New ZealandURL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/1966/arthurs-pass (accessed 26 May 2019)